When Sophie Gets Angry - Really, Really Angry...

Caldecott Honor Book 2000

When Sophie Gets Angry – Really, Really Angry..., by Molly Bang.  Scholastic, 1999.  Traditional Picture Book.

Family, Angry, Smithereens, Volcano, Red, Blue, Calm, Solitude, Nature, Home

Sophie becomes angry and leaves so that she can calm down.

Sophie gets angry at her family.  She wants to smash things into smithereens when she feels like a volcano ready to explode.  The red color of her anger is evident, but as she calms down you notice more blue.  Sophie needed solitude in nature to calm down before she returned home.

Black? White! Day? Night!

Citation: Black?  White!  Day?  Night!   by Laura Vaccaro Seeger.  (Roaring Book Press, 2006). 18p. Concept Picture Book.

Summary: A flip open book of opposites that is filled with pictures that start as one thing and evolve into the opposite.

Critique:

a.         The colorful illustrations and descriptions turn into the opposite with the lifting of a flap. 

b.      While it is the vibrant colors that draw the reader in, it is the imaginative way that one thing transforms into its opposite while incorporating the original picture.  Every page in the book contains an opposite pair, some traditional and others less conventional. 

c.       It looks like a picture of a black bat, but when you lift the flap, the bat becomes part of a white ghost (p.1).  Brown and pink together help create a mountain? Or is pink and brown really a valley (p.9)?    

Curriculum Connection:  Opposites can be connected to science and math or language arts.  Black?  White!  Day?  Night!  has so many curriculum connections and so little time that it is a must have for a classroom library.

My Friend Rabbit

Caldecott Medal Award 2003

Citation: My Friend Rabbit by Eric Rohmann. (Roaring Books Press, 2002). 33p. Traditional Picture Book.

Summary: The friendship and misadventure of Mouse and Rabbit are told with colorful illustrations and bold lines. 

Critique:

a.       The timeless story of friendship using few words and detailed pictures.

b.      The illustrations manage to progress the story without using words.  The adventure of Rabbit allows creative thinking which is reinforced without words using illustrations.

c.       The pictures telling the story of Rabbit and Mouse horizontally and vertically express the necessity of the situation.  The words used through the book are told by the narrator, Mouse who brings the reader in with his thoughts and feelings imploring the reader to view the situation from his perspective.  The Rabbit and Mouse are friends, and even with the misfortune of Rabbit affecting Mouse, they are still there to help one another.

Curriculum Connection:  Classrooms can have discussions about problem solving and friendship after reading this book.

Tops & Bottoms

Caldecott Honor Book 1996

Citation: Tops & Bottoms by Janet Stevens, (Scholastic, 1995). 32p. Concept Picture Book.

Summary: The tale of Bear and the Hare family’s business arrangement is described and altered over the course of several planting and harvesting seasons.   

Critique:

a.       The illustrations are what captivates the reader and brings them into the story.

b.      The illustrations are vibrant and engaging holding the audience’s attention.  On several of the pages there is a large brown text box with the written story which can draw the reader away from the illustrations.

c.       The illustrations in the book are to be viewed vertically on each page.  This practice adds to the nature of the story and reinforces the concepts of top and bottom.  When Bear is given the option of the top or bottom during planting season and the Hare family always agrees to Bear’s choice and honors the agreement, it never seems to work out for Bear.  “Now, Hare, you’ve tricked me.  You plant this field again- and this season I want the bottoms!” (p. 16).

Curriculum Connection:  Tops & Bottoms can be used within a science curriculum to demonstrate vegetables that grow above ground and underground.  The delightful misfortune of Bear’s laziness and the Hare family work ethic demonstrate that work and study skills can benefit you in all aspects. 

Zin! Zin! Zin! a Violin

Caldecott Honor Book 1996

Citation: Zin!  Zin!  Zin!  a Violin by Lloyd Moss.  Illus. by Marjorie Priceman, (Simon & Schuster, 1995). 27p. Traditional Picture Book.

Summary: A rhyming, counting journey as each instrument takes its turn in the symphony.  The verse of the story and the detailed illustrations present unfamiliar information in an easy to recall presentation.

Critique:

a.         A wonderfully written quatrain that introduces all of the instruments necessary for a symphony and how that instrument works together with the one before it.

b.      Each instrument is introduced with a rhyme, and how that instrument adds to the one before it to create a new numerical group.  The illustration of each new instrument is prominent with the previous instruments included in the background.  The addition of each new musical device provides the formal symphonic names based on the number in the group.

c.       “With steely keys that softly click, Its breezy notes so darkly slick, A sleek, black, woody CLARINET Is number SEVEN – now SEPTET” (p.14) provides a description of the instrument and how the addition of the clarinet changes the name of the group. Just like a symphony, “If we clap loud and shout, ‘Encore!’  They may come out and play once more” (p.26). 

Curriculum Connection:  Rhythm and count is just as important in music as the notes.  Zin!  Zin!  Zin!  a Violin combines all three of these elements in a delightful story perfect for every music classroom.

Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type

Caldecott Honor Book 2001

Citation: Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin.  Illus. By Betsy Lewin, (Scholastic, 2000). 29p. Traditional Picture Book.

Summary: Farmer Brown receives requests and demands from his typing cows.

Critique:

a.         An entertaining story of farm animal demands.  The storyline progresses using a cause and effect situation by having the cows type their requests for Farmer Brown.

b.      Repetitive language from the cow’s move the story along that leaves the reader smiling and laughing at the cows notes.  Farmer Brown, not willing to be manipulated by typing cows, refuses the request, and as a result must suffer the consequences.  The illustrations enhance the story and help move it along.

c.       “The barn is very cold at night.  We’d like some electric blankets” (p.6) seems like a simple request even though it is a request from a cow.  The request is denied so the cows enlist the help of the hens.  “Closed.  No milk.  No eggs” (p.14).  Finally as a negotiation, Duck becomes the mediator and brokers the deal between Farmer Brown and the cows.  Now the ducks have a typed request for Farmer Brown.

Curriculum Connection:  Farm animals that type is an amusing idea, one that will hold the attention of readers both young and old.  The story is told to showcase requests, demands, negotiations, and compromise.  Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type is a necessary story for every classroom.

Eating the Alphabet: Fruits & Vegetables from A to Z

Citation: Eating the Alphabet:  Fruits & Vegetables from A to Z by Lois Ehlert, (Voyager Books, 1989). 34p. Alphabet Picture Book.

Summary: More than apples and zucchini.  Learn the alphabet from A to Z naming the various fruits and vegetables that begin with those letters.

Critique:

a.       Of course the regular fruits and vegetables come to mind when thinking of specific letters.  The entire alphabet is covered and is some food is unusual and surprising.

b.      A traditional alphabet book with a non-traditional twist.  Exploring the alphabet using depictions of fruits and vegetables is interesting enough to find the letter in each word while wondering what other foods are still to come.  While some examples are unfamiliar, every letter is represented with a traditional food name.

c.       Some foods are familiar and some are not.  Consider “C for corn, celery and currant” (p.6).  Imagine “K is for kiwifruit and Kohlrabi” (p.13). “X stands for Xigua” (p. 28).  I am intrigued and ready to try and eat the alphabet.

Curriculum Connection:  A wonderful addition to the library of alphabet books.  The familiar foods will allow children to make a connection with the letter.  Eating the Alphabet is a must have for all early childhood classrooms.

Feast for 10

Feast for 10, by Cathryn Falwell.  Clarion Books, 1993.   Picture Books - Counting

Numerals, Feast, Gathering, Consumer, Culinary, Relatives, Ingredients, Multicultural, Organize, Hungry

Relatives shop and prepare for a gathering and feast.

Go on a counting journey as the family prepares for a gathering and feast to the grocery store and throughout dinner preparation.  The family adventure is easily relatable for anyone that has cooked a meal for family.  Colorful pictures and family depiction enhance the counting story of the family feast.

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Writing my first annotation was difficult.  The  teaser and annotation word limit was difficult to manage.  I had to rewrite, change, and DELETE several times before finally successfully meeting the word limit.  I suppose this is a good challenge to have oppossed to not having enough to say about the story.  Hopefully with feedback my annotations will improve and I will be prepared for my first critique!